Odds Are Christopher Bell Will Be The 2025 NASCAR Champion

And then there were two … races left until a NASCAR Cup Series Champion is crowned.

Chase Briscoe will be competing for the title after winning the YellaWood 500 at Talladega and will facing off against his teammate Denny Hamlin in the Championship 4 at Phoenix.

The other two spots will be decided at Martinsville Speedway on Oct. 26, which hosts the final race of the Round of 8.

After his eighth place finish at Talladega, Briscoe’s and Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell is tops among unqualified drivers with a 37-point cushion to the cut-line, just ahead of Kyle Larson at 36 points to the good.

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William Byron is at -36 points and followed by Joey Logano (-38), Ryan Blaney (-47) and Chase Elliot (-62). Barring a disastrous day for Bell or Larson, all will be looking for a Martinsville win to get into the finale.

Bell won the spring race at the track for the past two seasons and finished fifth in last year’s championship race, but had already been eliminated from the Championship 4 at Martinsville after getting a controversial penalty for a wall ride on the final lap.

Hamlin finished second this spring while Briscoe wrecked and finished 35th in his first year with JGR and Toyota. This has apparently helped tip things in Bell’s favor, as far as the oddsmakers are concerned.

BetMGM currently has Bell at +225 to win the Championship with 2021 champion Kyle Larson and Hamlin tied for second at +250 and Briscoe at +375.

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Blaney, who won the last race held on a mile-long track at New Hampshire is next at +500, but he’ll have to do something big at Martinsville to get a shot at the title. With two consecutive fall wins at the track a third is a strong possibility.

Byron, Logano and Elliott remain long shots at +1600, but they all have Martinsville wins on their resumes and aren’t out of the championship race quite yet.

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